New Buffer Enhances DNA Electrophoresis

These buffers allow build-up of heat at high voltages that melts and distorts the DNA. "DNA just needs to know it is in a voltage and it will move,” explained senior author Dr. Scott Kern, professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University. "So, the most important feature of a solution in electrophoresis is its ability to carry a voltage.”

The investigators reported in the February 2004 issue of BioTechniques that evaluation of many possible candidates had led to the selection of a buffer based on sodium boric acid. Gels run with this buffer could be resolved in one-sixth the time required by the old TAE and TBE systems. Moreover, the cost per gel of sodium boric acid is U.S.$0.07 as compared with TAE $0.27 and TBE $0.67. In the United States alone this would save the biotechnology industry nearly $37 million annually.





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